My Renewal, My Immortal
by esbmusic42
Summary: Ebony Way is normal. Even if the rapidly-growing canines and love of blood say otherwise. Based on "My Immortal" by Tara Gilesbie and the actual events of the Harry Potter series, this is My Renewal of "My Immortal."
1. Chapter 1

I woke up to darkness and an odd stickiness in my hair.

Okay, I'll admit that the darkness thing was definitely normal. Considering my…condition, so to speak, it would've been relatively bad if I woke up to bright light. Being blind was definitely not something I could ever look forward to. Darkness in the morning was a good thing, but last I checked, hair-stickiness was definitely not normal. Not by anyone else's standards, and certainly not by mine.

I slowly raised my hand to the ends of my normally dry, not sticky, very normal hair and felt a very thick, very wet substance on the tips of my hair. Upon further inspection, I found that the strange substance also ran in streaks in random areas of my still shoulder-length, normally dry hair. I didn't have much more time to contemplate the foreign liquid as the drapes to my four-poster were yanked open. I groaned as I let my eyes adjust to the light and the three imposing figures bathing in it.

"Hey, look at the disgusting Mudblood today!" Pansy Parkinson sneered nastily from my footboard. From behind her, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis wore identical (though slightly less repulsive) glares to their so-called "valiant" leader. I turned my eyes away from the light and focused them on the ground as I reached for my hair to finally see the damage done.

My hair was now a purply-brown with red at the ends, rather than its normal dark brown, and it seemed that it was nearly frozen in place from the liquid substance. Parkinson's snarling face forced itself toward mine.

"You finally look as trashy as your blood suggests. Not that you had any class to start with." The two harpies laughed nastily as I sighed, gathered my toiletry case from its (thankfully still there) place on the bottom shelf of my dresser), and walked toward the washroom.

This was a normal morning for me, though, I'll admit, this was one of those rare days where they actually stooped as low as pranking me. Funny, though, I would've thought that pranking was a rather classless thing to do in and of itself. Perhaps if it's inflicted upon a Muggleborn.

But then, I'm not a Muggleborn. I subconsciously raised my hand to my mouth as I rubbed gently against the upper left canine. It was almost fully grown back in. I groaned at the thought of grinding again. Mother was going to have a fit when she learned that they were growing in faster than they had when I first started Hogwarts. This was going to be the second time this month that I had to grind them. Sometimes I wondered if it was worth it-coming to Hogwarts as a-

"Ebony? You okay?" I heard a voice call out.

"Uh, ah-yeah. Fine," I managed a small, close-mouthed smile for the owner of the voice. The girl, Willow, glanced at me, worried.

"Are you ever going to stand up to them? I know that you're better than this, and they're not going to respect you otherwise." Good old Willow Rosier. Horribly blunt and an excellent judge of character. Quite possibly the only person in Slytherin with this particular combination and the only person to give me the time of day.

But with this gloopy whateverthehellitis in my hair, I really wasn't in the mood to tone down my language.

"Are you ever going to shut up about who I do and don't talk back to? You have the capability and I'm not going to do what you say." I grumbled, trying to keep my mouth as closed as possible. Willow gave a startled laugh.

"And you couldn't have said something like that about five minutes ago?" I turned back toward the washroom.

"I just didn't want to, alright?" I said quietly. "I came to Hogwarts to get an education, not to grovel at the feet of a bunch of brainless girls." I heard Willow give a sigh of defeat, but I couldn't be completely sure, as, at that point, I had already entered an empty shower stall.

-'-,-'-,-'-

As it turns out, the liquidy substance came out with water, though it had, admittedly, taken a lot of it to even come close to getting the color out. An hour and thousands of gallons of water later, the red and purple was mostly faded out, and my hair felt natural enough to the touch to allow me to exit the girl's washroom with only slight embarrassment. But, naturally, it was still enough to raise quite a few eyebrows in the Great Hall. I sighed and sat down at my usual place at the end of the table, alone (Willow was sitting with Millicent Bullstrode, who, while nicer than Parkinson and her band of pugs, was still not particularly fond of me. I tended to avoid her as needed). As I sat down, I saw my goblet automatically fill up with water.

And so began the worst part of my day: breakfast. I swallowed hard as I stared at the various foodstuffs on the table. I only needed a little bit, after all. Just enough to avoid suspicion. I eventually settled for devilled eggs, and ate them slowly, grimacing at taste.

Or lack thereof, I corrected myself grimly, taking a large gulp of water in the process. Water was the only "normal" food I could ingest without feeling the need to empty the contents of my stomach. Even still though, more than a few people stared at me in disbelief that I could ever hate something like their precious devilled eggs. I saw Parkinson pointing and laughing at me from a rather grumpy Draco Malfoy's lap as her pugs and his goons joined in. A lovely scene, I assure you. I hated being laughed at, and I honestly wished that I didn't have to come to breakfast just to get gawked at for no reason (except for my Technicolor hair, of course).

But then, it was worth it in the end. Because during lunch…

I smiled slightly at the thought of lunch. The best meal of the day. Wonderful, beautiful lunch, where I could eat alone and have my fill of whatever I wanted. Pig, cow, even chicken, sometimes…if I wanted it, I could get it.

Within reason, of course. If I asked for my favorite, I would've been slapped upside the head.

The chime of bells snapped me out of my daydreams (wonderful, amazing daydreams filled with delicious food), reminding me, once again, that Hogwarts was a school, and school meant classes, and classes meant Double Potions, and Double Potions meant…

Crap.

-'-,-'-,-'-

"No no no no no, Way!" Hermione Granger tsked as she grabbed the ladle out of my hands. "There's supposed to be a counter-clockwise turn every seventeenth turn. You were about to let it go an eighteenth time…"

"Sorry, Granger," I apologized quietly, letting Granger take control of the mixing.

"S'fine. No harm done yet, and I know that nobody could possibly stupid enough to do that on purpose," I twitched a little at this. It felt just a bit too much like an indirect insult to take comfortably. "Just cut up those ginseng roots, if you wouldn't mind. Shaved, and diced, it says,"

"Sure," I mumbled, the 'I can read, you know, Granger,' just barely not escaping my lips. I picked up the knife and started cutting.

In case it wasn't completely clear, I do not like Potions. At all. Not even a little bit. For multiple reasons. For one thing, there was never much need to cook at home, so I didn't have the slight advantage that most people had at home, and, for another, I didn't even know that I would have the opportunity to attend a Potions class, so I didn't have the "My First Potions Kit," or whatever the Muggle equivalent was. And furthermore-

A sudden, delightful smell permiated the air, and a quick 'ow' followed it.

"Goyle, you baboon!" Malfoy yelped, pinching the wound on his finger with his other hand. "Do my fingers look like roots to you? Merlin, you're useless everywhe-"

"Mr. Malfoy," The cool drawl of Professor Snape, resident Potion's master, interrupted. "Perhaps you would like to be escorted to Madame Pomfrey?" I couldn't hear the reply, too dazed by that wonderful smell. It smelled like happiness and joy rolled into one neat little package held so close to your nose but just out of reach, and-

"Ms. Way," I jumped slightly, and barely refocused enough to register that Snape was staring me down. "For your complete lack of focus, see me after class. It seems clear that the know-it-all was doing all of the work. So surprising, for a Slytherin to allow herself to give someone else the chance for her glory," I nodded, still in a daze.

-'-,-'-,-'-

The rest of Potions flew by in a whirl of that wonderful smell, only interrupted by the acrid addition of melting cauldrons, courtesy of, if I was correct, Seamus Finnegan and Neville Longbottom.

I really do question Snape's sanity for pairings like that one. Speaking of…

Snape slammed his hands on the teacher's desk, frustrated.

"Are you that stupid, Ebony?" Crap. The first name. He was pissed.

"What exactly did I do wrong, Severus?" Two could play at the name game. His left eye twitched with the mention of his given name. I smiled a bit in victory.

"You mean other than the colorful additions to your hair?" I frowned a little at this. Right. I nearly forgot about that. "The obvious look of pleasure on your face when Mr. Malfoy cut his finger when we were making Veritruserum. Which, in case you don't remember-"

"Is a colorless, odorless potion. I've heard it before," I interrupted dully. I could almost hear the sound of a vein popping out of his forhead.

"Precisely. Though I do which that your…situation…didn't hinder you from your potioneering. If it weren't for some of the instruments involved, you would have been beating your beaver of a partner."

"Granger," I corrected. She didn't seem to hate me, per say, which warranted the use of her name in my mind. "And you know that there's not much that I can do about it. Because of Longbottom and Finnegan-"

"I know," was the curt reply. We remained in silence for a moment before he spoke up.

"I still think that it's a miracle that you've managed to reach the second month of your Seventh Year at Hogwarts, but you still somehow managed to keep yourself hidden," he finally spoke. I stiffened a bit and sighed.

"Yeah, but I don't really-"

"Want to talk about it," he finished, nodding slightly. "I understand. I was just reminiscing how we picked your family name." He smirked as I laughed uneasily for a few moments, before remembering:

"Oh, and my teeth have started growing in again." Snape raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Already?" I nodded. He sighed. "Very well. I'll talk to Dumbledore for getting you the proper tools to grind them back down." I winced in pain at the memory of what was to come in the proceeding hours.

"Thank you," I said, standing up and heading toward the doors. "See you tomorrow." He gave a curt nod, to which I turned around and exited the doors of the dungeon classroom.

And straight into Draco Malfoy, who had a confused and slightly disturbed look on his face and a white bandage on his finger.

"Oh, they've fixed your-"

"What are you?" he interrupted, his voice incredulous. My eyes widened, heart beating fast.

And there goes hiding behind my normalcy. Goodbye being a Muggleborn witch.

Time to face being a vampire in Hogwarts.

-'-,-'-,-'-

**Thank you so much for reading the first chapter of "My Renewal, My Immortal." This, I believe, replaces Chapters One and Two of the original source material, so feel free to compare and contrast or whatever. There are going to be more characters in my story, and those characters are going to be much closer to their Canon counterparts than Tara's versions. However, and I'm saying this right now to avoid complaints later, my version of Draco Malfoy will be the most different compared to his Canon self. I have to give him a better soul that can love people outside of his immediate family, after all.**

**I am also aware that the Rosier line died with Evan Rosier before the First War ended. We're going to pretend that Willow's illegitimate, and the Rosier family needed an heir.**

**Also, the gloopy stuff in her hair is, as some of you may have guessed, paint. I figured that Fred and George would be selling it in their shop at this point, since Weasley's Wizard Wheezes opened in July of 1996, and this is October of 1997, and I can see them making some sort of paint-based prank.**

**Please tell me how my characterization, plot, etc. are, and I'll be quick to improve whatever is needed as soon as possible. If it can be contributed, I would love to hear it.**

**Thank you, once again, for reading.**

**-esbmusic42**


	2. Chapter 2

Crap. Double crap. Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap…

"I'm sorry," I eventually stammered out. "I don't know what you're talking about so if you'll excuse me I have to go to lunch I hear that they're having chicken mm don't you love chicken see you later bye!" I heaved this in one breath, and turned and made my escape as soon as the words left my mouth.

My mind was reeling and my heart was pounding. I could already hear my mother's panicking voice in my head ("Ebony! You must come home at once! There's too much risk! Oh, they're going to murder you! I knew that we shouldn't have sent you!") and, in my mind's eye, could see my father giving my classmates the death glare for excluding me. As I turned the corner to reach the staircase to the second floor, a hand gripped my wrist. I tried wriggling out of the grip, but when I was almost free, another hand gripped my other arm and, in my shock, my wrist was firmly in the first hand once again. Trapped, I looked up.

"What are you?" Malfoy repeated, still pseudo-glaring at me. I was frozen. His glare became fierce. "Answer me!" I tried, in vain, to escape from the cage he formed with his hands. After a few moments, something resembling realization glinted in his eyes, and a slight smirk graced his cruel face. "Or is it that your kind, whatever you are, is too stupid to make a proper reply. If you can't speak proper English, I expect that your family can't speak any English at-"

Incensed, I continued the struggle against the strong grip with greater fervor, until the positions were switched and I gripped his shoulders, keeping him at arm's length against the wall.

"You can taunt me however you like, Malfoy," I said quietly, my silent anger lacing the attempted calm. "You can call me a creature or talk about me or whatever. But don't you dare," I attempted to dig my nails into his shoulders (and was slightly disappointed to find that it didn't have much of an effect), and locked our eyes, glare and shock reversed from their previous hosts "even think to bring my family into this. You've got your 'Malfoy Family Pride' bullshit, so don't go preaching to me about whose family is better than whose." Malfoy looked taken aback and I smiled a little on the inside. Catching me off guard, he flipped me back toward the wall, holding my wrists above my head in one hand, his wand pointed at my chin with the other.

…Crap.

"Want to say that again?" he asked darkly. I tried bringing back my earlier strength, but only succeeded in allowing him to have a tighter grip on my wrists. His wand inched closer to my neck, and with it the smell from Potions came back. I looked away from his menacing features to see that the wound from earlier had indeed been on his dominant hand and, as a result, it was about three inches from my face.

Malfoy started speaking again (probably boasting about how his family was so much greater than mine, that I had no right to compare them, et cetera), but my mind was in a daze. The warm scent swirled around my head, drawing me closer.

I only realized that I had bit through the wrappings on the offended finger after the smell became that much more potent and when the background noises produced by Malfoy faded to nothing. He yanked the finger out of my mouth, and I woke with a start, eyes wide as what I did started to sink in.

"What the-" But I was out of earshot by the time he reached the third word.

-'-,-'-,-'-

Madame Pomfrey raised a wrinkled eyebrow. "You're…not hungry?" she asked, doubtful. I nodded.

"You've gone over a day without taking in any form of suitable nutrition, and you're not hungry." she reiterated, a bit less inquiry in her voice.

"Yes." I replied, shifting a bit on the seat in the Hospital Wing. If she found out that I simultaneously revealed myself to someone and sucked their blood out of an open wound, I would be a dead man. A metaphorical mutilated corpse, to be exact.

"May I ask how this happened?" She gestured to my person vaguely. Seeing the opportunity to possibly save myself from the inquisition posed, I jumped in.

"You mean to my hair? It's a funny story actua-" My pitiful attempt to change the subject was interrupted.

"Your abrupt lack of hunger, when you normally ask for seconds during meal time." I winced. For an older woman, she was incredibly observant. Then again, she was a Healer, but in any case…

"…I ate a large breakfast?" It came out too question-y. I winced again. I was a Slytherin, I should theoretically be good at lying (if the Gryffindors were to be believed).

"You ate less at breakfast than you usually do." I snorted.

"Not my fault they didn't have any pink sausages today," I blathered, before slapping a hand to my mouth. Madame Pomfrey smirked.

If the Gryffindors were to be believed, Madame Pomfrey probably was a Slytherin in her day. The thought didn't comfort me in the slightest.

"What was this about a large breakfast?" I glanced to the floor.

"I didn't vomit it back this time," I provided weakly. This, at the very least, was true-I didn't have enough time to make it to a bathroom before Double Potions this morning.

"Ms. Way, what exactly happened between breakfast this morning and now that attributed to you not wanting to eat?" Her tone was brisk and her eyes were glaring.

"I kind of…in a way…may have sucked someone's blood out of their finger through an open wound. By accident." The elderly Healer nearly dropped the tray of blood-filled vials in her shock. And proceeded to kill me with questions.

"What happened? Whose blood did you suck? Do they know about you? How much blood did you take? Good Merlin, are they alright? They didn't faint from blood loss, right? Oh my-Ebony, did you kill them?" I tried to speak in between questions, but she just continued launching question after question until she was interrupted.

"Excuse me, Madame Pomfrey? Do you have any Dreamless Sleep Potion left in your store? I've nearly run out."

By someone who was not me. A male voice.

Oh crap. I barely caught Madame Pomfrey's "Of course," as I glanced at the offending male and prayed to any and every deity to ever exist that it was not Draco Malfoy…

…and was met by black hair and bespectacled, and confused, green eyes.

"You're…Way, right? Hermione's Potion's partner?" Harry Potter asked politely. I nodded, and he glanced at the tray of vials now resting on a table next to my seat. "Are those medicines?"

"It's not really your business, but yes, in a matter of speaking." My reply was met with curiosity mixing in with the now slightly less potent confusion in his face.

"Oh, er…sorry, then. I guess you know me, then?" Potter laughed slightly. I gave a weak smile.

"Yeah, in my class for seven years and all that…stuff, I guess, in the past few years," I replied silently. His face grew a bit stormy.

"Yeah…stuff," he trailed off. I could almost see his mind leaving his body and floating off to Merlin-knows-where, ending the very awkward and abrupt conversation where it stood.

In a way, I could sort of sympathize with him. He's clearly having his own issues to sort out, if the Dreamless Sleep Potion was any indication. Only difference was that, while I was quietly sorting myself out by turning into a hermit crab, he was ripped out of his shell and put on display inside of a giant glass tank where everyone could look in and just stare.

But then, his issues made him well-liked with a lot of friends to help him through his issues. My issues are the reason I'm a figurative crustacean in the first place. When I heard Madame Pomfrey start walking back into the main hospital area, I looked up.

"Here you are Mr. Po- Did your daydreaming rub off on Ms. Way, Mr. Potter?" Potter was still out of it. Sighing, she tried again. "Mr. Potter?" His eyes sharpened, and his head turned upward toward the frustrated Healer, who held out a vial filled with a milk-colored liquid. "Your potion. Remember, only-"

"Use it once or twice a week, or else I'll get addicted. I understand, Madame Pomfrey," Potter said, all smiles again. I made a mental note to myself to figure out how he can make himself appear happy all the time. Could come in handy for later-the happiness could drive Parkinson and her pack of puppies away. They were, in that sense, like dementors. Girlier, more colorful, uglier dementors.

"Sometimes I truly wonder if you do," Madame Pomfrey replied, her tone providing all the eye-roll needed. Potter seemed to have not heard, as he smiled and waved farewell to both of us before setting out to lunch, most likely.

I checked the clock hanging over the doorway to one of the private wards. "I should probably get back to the dorms and start on homework. I'll see you later Madame Pom-"

"Not quite yet. You have a lot of explaining to do." I swore that, from the sheer number of times in the last hour that I winced, my mouth would be stuck in the twisted shape. Yet, I did so anyway, as I started to explain what happened with Malfoy earlier in the hour.

-'-,-'-,-'-

A half-an-hour, two renditions of this morning's occurrences, and a question-answer session later saw me running to the fifth floor, where I was fifteen minutes late to Arithmancy. Professor Vector looked up from her notes and eyed me over the tops of her glasses.

"Any particular reason you were late for my class, Ms. Way?" I took a couple of shallow breaths, before even attempting to reply.

"I was. In the. Hospital Wing for something. You can. Owl Madame Pomfrey, if you'd like," I gasped, finishing the lovely phrase with a lady-like, throat-y cough. Professor Vector stared at me for a moment, as if debating whether to accept my answer for now or accuse me of lying and owling Madame Pomfrey right then and there.

Apparently the urge for the former won, as she gestured with her head toward my seat before continuing the lesson. I settled into my seat, pulled out a spare sheet of parchment, and started taking notes.

Arithmancy was easily my favorite subjects, mostly because it was the only magical subject that I was actually able to teach to my mother. My mother quickly became a hit after my Third Year, after I taught her the basics of using angles of the moon and stars, birthdays, and various equations that allowed one to predict the future. It was, as most considered it, a cross of Divination and something that Muggleborns called "algebra," and I loved every second of it.

The subject, though, didn't love me quite as much as I loved it. Or at least, the teacher didn't. Professor Vector was one of the few professors in Hogwarts who didn't know that I wasn't human, which was mostly due to my desire to be treated like a normal student in at least one class. While I did appreciate being treated like a normal student for once, Madame Pomfrey didn't particularly enjoy the owls from her every so often, from what I gathered. But it was, ultimately, my decision, and I haven't regretted it.

And, after this morning, the change of pace was definitely welcome.

-'-,-'-,-'-

**I don't like the last section of this chapter. At all, really. I think it could've gone a lot smoother, as I originally wanted to add Ebony-Hermione interaction there. But it's a bit too early for that, I think. Before Draco and Ebony become at least civil around each other, I need Hermione to at least be a decent friend to Ebony, as she's a major character in My Immortal (Hermione, that is. Not that Ebony isn't…), but I kind of want Ebony and Hermione's friendship to develop a bit more naturally, rather than all of a sudden them having a strong friendship. At the same time, I wanted to introduce Professor Vector fairly early on in the story, as I am debating whether to develop her into a main character or not, which is the main reason that I decided to keep the Arithmancy bit in the chapter.**

**I've realized a bit too late that my Ebony is still a bit Mary-Sue-ish, and I can't really tell if it's because of my writing style or just a result of the unique situation I had to keep her in. In any case, I've been trying to fix it. I didn't want her to be overly perfect (the original Ebony in My Immortal's earlier chapters), overly perfect hidden behind too many "imperfections" (the original Ebony in My Immortal's later chapters), or genuinely overly imperfect (what Tara claims the original Ebony to be). I wanted my Ebony to be a perfect person, and the perfect person has a balance of talents and flaws. My problem was that I gave her a more friendly relationship with Snape, which, on the sliding scale of Suedom, puts her closer to the "talented" side of the spectrum than I would've liked. At the time, I wanted it to seem like Snape became her surrogate father/uncle/brother while at Hogwarts, but now I think it's more than a little weird and awkward.**

**Eh, oops. At least he's not going to record her naked for "Loopin" to "masticate" to in this story.**

**Anyway, as you can probably tell, Draco is still a bigoted butthead. Unlike My Immortal, Draco isn't going to fall head-over-heels for Ebony at first sight. I'm not even completely sure that they should have a romantic relationship at all. Though, to be honest, even if I did, it wouldn't be the big plot point-a contributing factor, or maybe even a B-plot, but not the main part of the story. So, I'd like to know your thoughts on romantic relationships in this story: should romance be in your faces, more subtle, or not even appear at all?**

**Speaking of knowing your thoughts, please tell me what you thought of how the plot's progressing, characterization, writing style, etc. I can't get better unless I know what I'm doing wrong, after all. Also, if you'd like me to cut down on these Author's Notes, please let me know (they're just getting longer and longer…).**

**Thank you for reading!**

**-esbmusic42**


	3. Chapter 3

I glanced around covertly as I shakily settled into my seat for dinner. Ever since the little post-Potions incident that kind-of-in-a-way-may-have-by-accident caused someone who is friends with/dating my greatest tormentor to find out the secret concerning my species, I've been carefully avoiding one Draco Malfoy with some level of success. Still having colorful hair (which will be back to brown by the end of the night…hopefully…) certainly made it harder, but, when the object of your avoidance has bleach-blond hair in a sea of dark blonds and browns, it was surprisingly easy to pick him out and quickly run in the opposite direction.

I picked up a piece of steak, lost in thought. It was possible that he misunderstood the whole situation. Maybe he thought I was a creepy cannibal with a strange fascination with people with virtually no color. There was no guarantee that he necessarily knew that I was a vampire. I mean, he wasn't Granger-level genius, so-

I paused for a second, and nearly hit my head against the table in my stupidity.

I had forgotten about Granger. I rubbed my temple with one hand as I absentmindedly speared my steak. Malfoy was Potter's worst enemy, so they were bound to constantly hear about each other and use it to taunt the other. And Granger was Potter's best friend, so naturally he would tell her everything. And by everything, I mean every single little thing that enters his ears exits from his mouth and makes a quick detour by her ear and, naturally, makes its home in her very intelligent, reasonable, well-learned, logical mind. And put the pieces together.

Crap. I sighed in defeat as I picked up the knife and started cutting up the victimized cow meat. Regardless of who I try to avoid more, the secret was going to get out and I would die as someone's research specimen, provided they didn't try to kill me first. I sighed as I ingested the slightly-pink steak.

For a last meal, it could've been worse.

-'-,-'-,-'-

"Hey Mudblood!" I groaned from my place on the small green armchair near the fire. Really, I did want my last few days alive and well to be peaceful, and reading the book Willow unknowingly lent me in the only section of the common room that was light seemed like a good ending for my last day. But, then again, this was my life we were talking about. And what sort of day would it be if someone didn't torment me? I tucked my face deeper into the tome. Maybe if I ignored them, they'd think that it wasn't me.

"Don't act like we're stupid, Mudblood. Only a muddy little thing like you would still be parading around with purple hair." Right. The colorful hair. I sighed as I looked up toward Parkinson and her pack of loyal puppies, and paled when I saw that her friend/boyfriend/person was right beside her.

I really should have just read in the dormitory. Even if I risked freezing to death, I should have just stayed in the dormitory.

And, if his uncomfortable expression was any indication, Malfoy seemed to feel the same way. I wanted to drop my head in my lap. He's probably figured it out and thinks that I'm going to kill him if he says anything in front of me.

On the other hand, for someone who wasn't willing to piss me off, he sure was being passive about how Parkinson was treating me.

"What's the matter, Mudblood? Can't talk. Your muddy blood must've made your brain slower." Against my better judgment, I opened my mouth to retort, but was interrupted.

"Just leave it, Pansy. She's as stupid as you say, so she won't likely be offended." I blinked. Parkinson blinked. I think the entire common room may have blinked altogether. Draco Malfoy just defended the Mudblood.

The Slytherin common room remained in a chilled silence, before Parkinson eventually started giggling.

"Oh, you're always right, Draco. Why should I even bother?" She flicked her hair before dragging Malfoy out of the common room, Davis and Greengrass following her obediently. But not quickly enough to prevent Malfoy from inconspicuously dropping a small slip of parchment toward my lap. Catching the fluttering parchment before it reached its destination, I slowly opened the note, and gulped slightly.

_This isn't over,_ the note read.

-'-,-'-,-'-

"You got the Wheezes hair-paint out, I see," Willow said, a hint of a smile gracing her features as I entered the bathroom for my morning wash. I nodded slightly.

"Is that what it was? I've never heard of hair-paint before," I said absently as I turned on the sink to wash my face. After an additional half-hour of showering before bed the previous night, the color had finally managed to wash out, and Parkinson apparently decided that the colorful hair was enough embarrassment for one week, and left me be that morning. So, I was walking around with my normal, brown hair today.

Thank Merlin.

"You've never heard of hair-paint? But you're a…Oh!" I glanced up in alarm at Willow, who's face practically screamed "comprehension". Crap. The guise was up. Parkinson told. I braced myself as Willow finished:

"Muggles call it hair-dye, I think, right?" I blinked, and then faked an expression of understanding.

"O-oh, yeah, right. We call it hair-dye," I said shakily, chuckling unconvincingly all the while. Willow tilted her head slightly to the side, concerned.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Y-yeah. Why do you ask?" I replied, just as shaken as before.

"You've just been a little jumpy since yesterday. Did anything happen?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Just Parkinson and Malfoy and them." There was a crash of hands hitting the counter, and I turned to meet Willow's surprised face.

"Wait a minute. Malfoy teased you yesterday? Draco Malfoy?" I nodded. "He's never done that before." I rubbed the back of my neck nervously.

"Erm…actually, he kind of defended me," I confessed, turning away slightly. Willow grabbed my shoulders and turned me toward her.

"He defended you?" she asked, shaking me. I shushed her, and she fell silent.

"Not exactly. Parkinson was making fun of me, and he told her to stop wasting her breath because I'm a Muggleborn and am too stupid to understand them anyway."

"He called you a 'Muggleborn'?" She asked, even more disbelieving. I shook my head.

"He called me…that name, you know what it is…" Willow nodded in understanding, smiling, no smirking, slightly. "What?" I asked, a little worried. I prayed that she didn't figure anything out. Did she suddenly figure out that I wasn't a Muggleborn? I prepared myself mentally to hear her say:

"You fancy Malfoy don't you?" I breathed a sigh of relief. She still thinks that I'm human. I started thanking my lucky stars…before the full weight of what she just said finally hit me.

"You think I…with Malfoy? No no no no no," I said, panicked, but Willow started giggling.

"I think you do, Miss Way," she said teasingly. "This is the first time you've liked someone. And it's a forbidden love, you not being a pureblood, and everything. Going to have to sneak behind tapestries and statues, aren't we?"

"Wait, what?" This was spiraling in a bad direction. I mean, it wasn't the vampirism, so it could've been worse, but…it was still pretty bad. Willow continued to ignore my protests.

"Or maybe for Potions! He's Snape's favorite student, so he'll probably be forced to tutor you if you asked. Long, hard hours in a steaming hot classroom, Ebony! I'd bet that you'd enjoy that very much." I honestly didn't know what was scaring me more at this point: the smirk on Willow's face or the words coming out of her mouth.

"Willow, that's not it. It's that-" I slapped my hand over my mouth before I could say any more. It's not like I could tell her that I bit through wrappings on a wound and sucked his blood, and he was probably scared of me or, even worse, wanted to take advantage of that knowledge. I mentally cursed my stupidity, a trait of mine that was growing increasingly more prominent by the hour, it seemed.

"It's what, then?" Willow asked, leaning in closer, eyes glinting with mischief. I took a deep breath. Between the lie and the truth, it was more believable, anyway.

"I have a crush on Draco Malfoy," I finished lamely, if somewhat darkly. Willow shrieked girlishly, and I fought the urge to cover my ears. I shushed her again.

"It's just a tiny one, you hear me? Just a passing fancy. Nothing major." Willow nodded and grinned eagerly.

"Oh, I'm so excited for you, Ebony! I'll start planning a proper wedding. A perfect cross between Muggle and magical, that it will be." Giggling, the girl formerly known as my only friend skipped out of the washroom. I groaned in annoyance.

What did she know about Muggle weddings, anyway?

-'-,-'-,-'-

"…and Madame Good was imprisoned, as well as Muggles Tituba and Sarah Osburne. Tituba was a slave for two of the accusers, Abigail Williams, who was a Squib, and Elizabeth Parris, who was a Muggle, and claimed…" Professor Binns droned. I was falling asleep at my desk. Turning my head to the side, I saw that Granger was taking notes diligently. For someone who's probably going to lead to my doom within the next week, I had to say that I had a genuine respect for her. It takes a lot of will power to stay awake in this class.

Suddenly, I felt something lightly hit my head. I turned around and saw a giggling Parkinson and a smirking Malfoy. I ran my fingers through my hair, and found the offending object-a crumpled piece of parchment. Opening it shakily, I found myself face to face with a dog. With short, colorful hair. I turned back toward my tormentors.

Parkinson continued laughing, and mouthed "Mudblood," to which I grimaced. Malfoy, however had a somewhat more serious look on his face. He kept on jabbering something quietly, and it took me a couple of seconds to realize what he was mouthing.

"Tap the bottom left corner," he said. I turned forward again and poked the described corner gently with my finger.

Nothing.

I tried again, harder this time.

Still, nothing.

I turned back toward Malfoy, annoyed. He rolled his eyes. Parkinson whispered something in his ear, to which he laughed. He reached down into his bag and pulled out his wand. Glancing at me for a moment, he twirled the wand lightly around his temple in circles.

Well that was rather rude. I grimaced at the lovely couple before turning forward in my seat.

A few moments later, I felt another piece of parchment hit my head. Turning around, I saw Parkinson giggling, again, and Malfoy offering me a look that suggested that I should consider mental help. Sighing, I turned forward once more and opened up the note again.

_Mudbloods like you never think to use a wand, you uncivilized beast_, the note read. I was about to crumple it up when I realized-

Oh. I "never think to use a wand." I bent down to take my own wand out of my bag. I looked around subtly, before gently prodding the bottom, left-hand corner of the first parchment.

_Way-_

_If you intend to keep your little blood fetish a secret, meet me at midnight just outside the common room._

_Remember, you owe me._

_-DM_

I sighed. It looks like Willow was right about me needing to meet Malfoy in secret. But Merlin, did I wish that it was for the reason she wanted it to be!

-'-,-'-,-'-

**That's it for Chapter 3 of My Renewal, My Immortal. It took me a while to actually get enough time to write this all out. I think this turned out okay-ish, though if anything is truly glaring, I will try to fix it within the next couple of days.**

**I did want some parallelism to the actual events of My Immortal, so a few things are going to become trends throughout the story. For example, in this chapter, we have Willow assuming that Ebony likes Draco, Ebony denying it at first, and Draco asking to meet her.**

**But since there are differences, we know that, in MI, Willow was right, Ebony was obviously lying, and Draco wanted a date. Meanwhile, in MRMI, Willow was dead wrong, Ebony had to lie about it in the end, and Draco wants to…something. No spoilers for you.**

**There was more that I had planned for in this chapter, but, by the time I had finished with what I had now, it would have been far too long. Besides, the ending I had planned was actually a lot different, so I felt that this was the most natural place to stop, so I stopped. Speaking of stopping, I should stop now with this too-long Author's Note. **

**If you have any critiques about characterization, plot, writing style, etc., please let me know. Remember, I can't get better unless I know what I'm doing wrong.**

**Thank you so much for reading this chapter!**

**-esbmusic42**


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you sure you're alright?" Willow asked, concern lacing her voice. At least, that's what it seemed like she said-my head, ears included, was being enveloped by my pillow, with the hope that there was some kind of creature that lived in pillows and ate people's heads whole. Sure, it was a horrible way to go, but it's decidedly better to die a feathery, fluffy death than to be hunted alive by my classmates. Or talk to Malfoy.

"Mmph," I replied eloquently, my voice only slightly muffled by the pillow. I heard a sigh from above.

"Alright, then," Willow said dubiously, before walking away and, most likely, finding Millicent to talk to. I groaned and turned myself onto my back, frowning at the stone ceiling above.

I couldn't talk to Malfoy-there were too many risks. He could interrogate me and find out about my species. He could find out where my family lives. He could have them hunted and killed if he really felt malicious enough about it.

On the other hand, I couldn't not talk to Malfoy either. Exact meaning of my behavior aside, he still knows that I, at the very least, like the taste of blood. He could tell all of his friends in revenge for not talking to me, and, if they believed him, my family and I would still be hunted down.

Back to the first hand, who'd believe him? As far as anyone knew, I was, and am, the only vampire in existence who showed any display of witchcraft. Sure, they'd think that it was a weird blood obsession or something, but they wouldn't know I'm a vampire.

Returning to the second hand, it really shouldn't go out, because if it gets out then someone, namely Granger, will look at the bizarre jig-saw pieces of the puzzle most would call my existence and figure it out. Having Granger find out about my identity would arguably be worse-unlike with Malfoy, no one would dare try to prove Hermione Granger wrong. I swallowed and came to a decision:

Keep on deliberating.

-'-,-'-,-'-

"You're late," Malfoy said crossly as I exited the common room at a quarter past twelve. I looked back at him, a little scared. Even leaning back against the wall with a bored sneer etched on his face made him look threatening. I'd only gone in the first place because my choices were "maybe let my identity out" or "definitely let my identity out," but being late, combined with the scowl on his face, made me reconsider the safety of my secret out here.

Well, too late to turn back now.

"S-sorry," I replied shakily, swallowing slightly. I could hear my heart beating, echoing in my ears as I stared at my nonchalant, if not annoyed, impending doom. Malfoy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as he pushed himself off the wall with his back to stand upright.

And now he's at his full height of doom. Crap.

"Yesterday, you bit and licked a wounded finger of mi-"

"Isn't it two days ago?" I babbled, trying to avoid the inevitable. "After all, it happened on Wednesday, and it's midnight on Friday now, so-" I was cut off.

"Does it matter?" Malfoy said harshly, his tone made of ice so cold I shivered.

"N-no, I guess it doesn't," I said, looking down at my feet. I heard him breathe out, annoyed.

"Why is she so stupid?" he muttered in a manner meant for the person in question to hear. I looked up, trying my best to not let my fear show and just glare.

"I'm not stupid!" I protested. Malfoy rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger.

"Just tell me what in Merlin's name is wrong with you, Mudblood? I don't want you stalking me now that I've been on the receiving end of your fetish." I twitched. Okay, he'd been more straightforward using "fetish" in the letter than I had thought. And he didn't suspect me of being a vampire, nor being anything than just a Muggleborn in Slytherin. But still…

"Says the boy I've been avoiding since the incident! And before it, actually!" I snapped, letting all of my pent up anger lose. Seven years of whispers and taunts, of wondering whether they knew about me or just thought I was weird, of exhaustion and anger and frustration, were let out in mere seconds. "Merlin, you act as if I'd been stalking you since First Year! Not everything that happens to anyone who attracts your eye is about you, you-"

I would have said more if it weren't for two things. The first is the more obvious from the context, I suppose-I realized exactly what I had just seemed to say and caught myself before embarrassing either of us further. A pureblood, a Malfoy no less, fancying a Mudblood? Preposterous, at least in his mind.

As for the second…

Malfoy cut me off, slamming one hand to my mouth and another around my wrist. The wrist of my wand hand, I realized, swearing mentally. Then I remembered that which hand he had handicapped didn't matter-I'd left my wand in the dormitory by accident.

I'm an idiot. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap.

I considered opening my mouth to bite his hand, but as I ran my tongue over my teeth in preperation, I realized that they were still ungrinded. They were sharp enough to pierce skin now, which was, on whole, not good considering there was a ripe, juicy human right in front of me, fresh for the picking.

Fortunately for both aforementioned human and I, I was scared to death of the human, so the likelihood of blood-sucking was rather low. Particularly when he was glaring at me that meanly.

"No one," Malfoy started, taking full advantage of the difference in our heights to intimidate me. "makes a fool out of a Malfoy. Get it straight, Way-I will never be interested in a stupid Mudblood like you, romantically or otherwise. It is the Malfoys who 'attract the eye,' as you say, not people like you." And he swept back into the common room, leaving me in the corridor alone. I would've noticed the instance he called me "Way" instead of "Mudblood," but I was too relieved to still be alive to fully notice.

-'-,-'-,-'-

"Where were you last night?" Willow demanded, arms crossed as I passed her on the way to the showers. I looked up at the girl, plastering a fake expression of confusion on my somewhat-glad-to-see-this-morning face.

"I was in bed," I replied, scrunching my eyebrows together. Willow narrowed her eyes.

"No you weren't. I saw you leave at around midnight." Crap.

"I-I was using the toilet," I returned, only slightly shaky. Willow raised an eyebrow.

"An hour after previously using it without having ingested any other substance in the time between?" I hate being in Slytherin sometimes.

"I had a glass of water on my night table. I drank from it just after you left me alone, and eventually I thought my bladder was going to explode. So I got up to pee." I didn't stutter and I was proud. A perfectly believable lie. The invisible party of congratulations in my mind was interrupted by Willow saying:

"You're lying. You didn't have a glass of water by your bedside. I saw your nightstand before I went to bed."

I amend my earlier thought-I hate being in Slytherin altogether.

"I-I…um…" I stuttered, all steam gone.

Crap.

"Where were you last night?" Willow repeated, closing in on me. I saw the corners of her mouth twitch slightly and I relaxed slightly. She wasn't mad-just curious and worried.

"Mal-…do you remember what I told you yesterday?" I asked, trying to avoid Willow's eyes. I heard a gasp.

"Merlin, you made a move on him already? I'm so proud of you!" And I was being hugged. "Oh, this is fantastic-you're going to make history! The first non-pureblood, and the first person to have no magical ancestry whatsoever, to marry into the Malfoy family! Just wait, soon you're going to be introduced as 'Mrs. Ebony Malf-'" I pulled out of Willow's embrace and shushed her.

"It's not like that!" Though Merlin knew how much easier my life would've been like the past few days had Willow's inaccuracies been true. But then again, the truth wasn't believable in the slightest, and I had no desire to let anyone else find out about it. As my friend leaned closer with a teasing grin, I found it hard to keep a smile off my face in response.

My fancy of Malfoy true or not, it was fun pretending I fancied someone. I could almost forget about being a man-eating entity that was essentially "playing with her food," so to speak.

"He wanted to talk to me about something. It wasn't romance related though," I said eventually, looking away less out of embarrassment than in euphoria. This is what it was like to be a normal (or at least more normal than me), boy-crazy Hogwarts girl, and Merlin, was I enjoying myself. Willow certainly caught onto the vibe and squealed.

"He spoke civilly to someone who's not pureblood! It's love for sure!" Willow declared, and, ignoring the stares we received from our annoyed peers, we laughed. For her, out of excitement for my "accomplishment." For me…

I guess recognizing how strange the truth was just made the lie so much funnier.

-'-,-'-,-'-

"So it's three more clockwise stirs, and then we add the owl eyes, right?" I asked Granger, who was looking onto my work with an impatient look in her eye. Potions every other day was murder on my brain, but at least I'm getting better-ish.

Having the smartest girl in the history of Hogwarts as a partner definitely helped.

"Falcon eyes, but otherwise, yes," she replied, her tone stiff. I sighed in relief, thankful with the knowledge that my "inferior, impure" mind was capable of absorbing some information. My happy feeling was interrupted by a hand stopping my arms from moving the ladle. I looked up at a strangely panicked Granger curiously. We stared at each other for a moment before she explained herself.

"You were about to stir a fourth time," she said, no emotion in her face. I turned to look at her head on. She looked exhausted, with her hair bushier than usual and her normally too-bright-to-be-natural eyes dulled. I winced, sympathizing with her tiredness, and Granger took a step back and glared.

"Watch yourself," she warned, eyes giving off a familiar flash. I recoiled a little, turning back toward the bile-green potion.

"Sorry," I replied, picking up and counting eight falcon eyes, grimacing as I touched the slimy, squishy spheres, before dropping into the cauldron. I sat down, at ease.

I managed to brew a potion that was close enough in color to the directions on the blackboard to get me a passing grade. I was going to get my first E in Potions, and Granger barely needed to help me. All that was left was to let it stew for ten minutes, scoop up some of the icky, gloopy potion into a vial, and hand it in.

I'm, of course, ignoring the fact that it was supposed to be jade green and be thin in consistency. I made the potion, and it came out green. Wrong shade and viscosity, but who cares-it was green, and I was proud.

"We're done!" I told Granger a bit too enthusiastically. The Gryffindor peered into our cauldron and frowned.

"We're going to get a lot of points off," she noted, and I deflated a little.

"You weren't exactly helping me that much, and at least we'll pass," I protested indignantly. My E potion was brewed, and I was proud. If she wanted an O, she would've brewed it herself.

It was only when I heard a thump that I actually noticed Granger's posture. She'd taken several steps back into the wall of the dungeon, looking, for lack of a better phrase, scared out of her wits. Eyes wide and hands shaking, I saw her swallow and move her right hand to the pocket of her robes. Where her wand was.

And as the rest of class finished their potions, Granger and I never dropped each other's gazes. Fear evident on both our expressions as it dawned on me.

Granger knows.

-'-,-'-,-'-

**Hey, look at that-I'm not dead!**

**Sorry about not being on FanFiction for the past month. I've had a ton of homework (I know, everyone says that, but seriously, it's true), and I've had a lot of songs to rehearse/practice/conduct. However, the latter is done (for now), so I have a little bit more time for FanFiction.**

**Actually, I've been working on this a little bit every weekend until now to get this done, but it's finally finished and I'm satisfied. I don't know, it feels like these chapters are really short. I'm trying to get better.**

**And, on that note, I've decided to make the Draco/Ebony a subtle thing-for now. In MI, the basis of their interactions is their romance, so the most I can do is get enough violence between them before he figures her out, freaks out, and eventually befriends her. It's in the plan for them to have romance-y moments, but honestly-I don't know if I actually want them to get together or now. So, it's your call: when they reach that point, do we want them to have an awkward romantic tension, or for them to suck it up and actually get together when the time comes?**

**Anywho, if you have any comments/critiques about plot, characterization, writing style, etc., let me know. Remember, I can't improve unless I know what I'm doing wrong.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-esbmusic42**


	5. Chapter 5

Neither Granger nor I looked at the other for the remainder of the lesson. We just watched our green potion turn a pus-like, yellow color for around a half an hour. My mind was moving a mile a minute.

Granger knew about my being a vampire.

She knows I'm not human.

She can tell anyone, and they'd believe her. Or worse: she could not tell anyone and try to figure out how I have magic by dissecting me.

Yeah, my secret getting out by Malfoy is looking more and more pleasant by the second.

Distantly, I heard the bells outside chiming, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Okay, the lesson's over. Now all I have to do is leave and pretend that today never-

"Ms. Way. See me after class," Professor Snape called out. I let out an ironic laugh. Of course I'd be held after class when all I wanted to do was pretend this lesson never happened.

-'-,-'-,-'-

I stared at the envelope entitled 'Regarding Your Teeth' incredulously. "Seriously?"

"I'd have thought you'd be excited for the news. You haven't seen him in a few weeks. Most students don't have this…ah, advantage," Snape replied, looking increasingly more annoyed with each passing second.

"I would've been had I not known from previous experience that he comes every time it happens to me," I said petulantly. Snape raised an eyebrow.

"He's your father," he continued, somewhere between amusement and exasperation.

"I'm aware." It's just that Father coming to Hogwarts was both commonplace and annoying. And with the added loveliness that was Granger knowing my species, it would be nerve-racking as well.

Snape sighed.

"Just…go back to your dormitory, and go to the Hospital Wing after dinner," he said. I could almost see the vein popping out of his forehead and decided against telling him that I had Transfiguration this hour.

And nearly knocked into Granger in my rush to leave.

"Walk with me," she said, all business-like and cold.

Well, crap.

-'-,-'-,-'-

"I know what you're up to," she said, about two minutes into our trek upstairs (I, to the fifth floor for my daily dose of McGonagall; she, to somewhere that was unlikely to be Transfiguration unless she transferred into Ravenclaw). I stiffened at the bluntness of the statement.

"D-do you?" I replied. She nodded.

"Your talk with Snape confirmed it." In any other situation, I would've said something about eavesdropping being immoral. But this was not the time, place, or person to say this to. Instead, I ran in front of her and clasped my hands together.

"I'm begging you. Please don't tell anyone about my being a vampire," I said, almost hysterical. Granger stared for a minute, almost disbelieving. I was about to start crying when she gave a small yelp, seeming to realize something.

"You're a vampire?" she squeaked. It was my turn to be confused.

"Yeah, that's what you-why, what were you going to say?"

"I was going to say that you had some sort of behavior disorder! Harry told me about the medicines and Professor Vector's always annoyed at you and then Professor Snape mentioned the Hospital Wing, a-and…" she replied, hyperventilating. I opened my mouth to ask how in Merlin's name she got that idea when I paused.

My conversation with Snape could've been something like that, thinking back.

"T-that's right!" I started babbling. "You're totally right as usual just ignore the vampire thing it was a joke I got to go to Transfiguration now see you later bye!" I turned to run, but I was caught by the wrist.

Well this is strangely familiar. Where has this happened before?

Right. Here. With Malfoy.

Merlin, I hate irony.

"You're a vampire?" she repeated, a little calmer. I bit my lip as gently as I could without breaking the skin and nodded. "But that's impossible if you're a-"

"Yeah, I know," I replied, shifting from foot to foot. "We don't know how it happened either,"

"We?" she asked. I suddenly realized that I was talking to Hermione Granger, of all people, about my secret. The lack of discomfort with this situation was faintly alarming-it felt more like I was embarrassed than anything else.

"Me, my parents, Dumbledore, the House Heads," I listed, somewhat distantly. It felt like a dream-I was hearing my voice speaking as if I was a different person.

"And your parents? They're your actual parents?" I nodded. This had come up already, and special blood tests proved that they were my parents.

"So how-?"

"We don't know," I repeated dully. We walked for a bit in silence.

"That's not your name, is it?" Granger asked. I looked up for a moment. "'Way' isn't your real surname, is it? I read about vampire heritage once. There's no surname structure like that, right?" I nodded.

"Yeah. 'Way' was made up before Hogwarts started," I said, wincing despite myself. The memory of my false name still made my skin crawl. Granger looked thoughtful, the fear and horror almost gone from her expression.

"And your real name…?"

"Ebony Oskursdaughter. Youngest child of Oskur Roburson and Raven Vitisdaughter, and second in line to be head of the family after Demetrius Oskurson, my older brother," I recited, a proud smile almost taking over my expression. I rarely got to speak of my family members unless I was explaining why they never picked me up from King's Cross or if there were complications in my keeping up appearances. It was nice to mention them in (albeit not very) casual conversation.

Granger made a sound of understanding (something between a grunt and a hum). "That sounds more likely."

"Yeah," I said, coming back to Earth a little bit. My pride was being replaced by anxiety as it hit me more and more that Hermione Granger knew my secret. "Listen, it's really important that you-"

"I won't tell. Who'd believe me, anyway?" she asked, a hint of a smile gracing her features.

"Everyone," I replied, deadpan. She shook her head, still smiling.

"You'd think," she said, chuckling. It was then that I decided that it would be an absolutely terrible idea to potentially piss off the most taken-seriously person in Hogwarts by noting her apparent over-confidence in her intelligence. That, and she was right in her thinking that.

We walked a few more meters before she interrupted the silence.

"Do you mind if I look into your situation?" I looked at her curiously.

"What do you mean? Like, see if anyone else is like me?" I asked. She shook her head.

"I figured that Dumbledore would've done something like that already. I mean like, look into a vampire's physiology, genetics, and such. A few researchers already found a few of the genes that are linked to magic in their mutated forms, and I want to see if the original gene appears on the genetic code of vampires. It's possible that, even if your physiology is the same as a vampire's, that particular gene mutated, like when the common mammalian ancestor broke off into different directions. I mean, I know it's unlikely in some respect, given that you're more closely related to wolves than apes like humans are, but it's possible. I mean, rodents and pigs are similar genetically to humans, and wolves are more closely related to us than them, so it's possible," she said, starting to talk faster as she went on. I stared at her for a moment, before replying with my most eloquent response:

"What?" Granger sighed.

"Never mind. I'll be in the library if you want to help me," she said with finality. As she left, I couldn't tell if I was scared, relieved, or confused.

Probably the first one, particularly I'd have to tell Dumbledore about this with Father still in the room.

Crap.

-'-,-'-,-'-

"Hermione Granger? I'm surprised it took her this long," Headmaster Dumbledore said pleasantly, popping another lemon candy in his mouth. The almost relaxed composure of the Headmaster was a stark contrast from the other person present.

"Albus, are you insane?" Father protested. "Ebony's been discovered. Someone outside of your trusted circle of employees knows about her being a vampire. And you're calm?" My father seemed to tower over the room in his anger, never mind that he was rather average, if not short, for an ordinary human man his age. To his credit, though, his somewhat husky build may have helped him in some respects.

Whatever the fear factor is in Father, it's working on me, though Dumbledore was proving himself to be the first person to not be afraid of a rather angry Oskur Roburson.

"Father, she did say that she wouldn't tell. And she said she'd help figure out why I have magic," I put in weakly. A bad move on my part, I realized as Father's anger was redirected to me.

"Did she take one of those Unbendable Promises? Is she one of your friends? Does she live close enough to you to be able to keep an eye on her?" he asked, pointing an accusing finger at me.

No, not really, and try the other side of the castle.

"I know I can trust her," I replied.

"How?" Father asked accusingly. I shifted in my armchair, the comfort of which decreased significantly with every yell Father released.

"If I may say this, Oskur," Dumbledore replied pleasantly. "I imagine Ms. Granger thinks of your daughter as less of a friend she's keeping the secret of and more of a secret research project." Father and I stared at him.

"What do you mean by this? Does this mean she's in danger?" Father asked after a moment. I nodded next to him, wanting to know just as much as he.

"Oh, no Oskur, she's quite safe. In fact, your daughter's situation is probably the best kept secret in Hogwarts at the moment. Ms. Granger is a very dedicated student. Some even call her the smartest witch in her and the previous generation. I would think that Ms. Granger would want to discover how your daughter develop her powers, and would want to prevent anyone else from researching until she has drawn her conclusions. So…"

"This girl would rather selfishly gain fame and recognition from Ebony's abilities by understanding how they were developed rather than by ratting her out?" Father finished, a little dubious. Dumbledore seemed to not notice the change in his tone as he ate another candy from the tin on his desk.

"Precisely," Dumbledore said cheerfully. Father looked down at me.

"He's probably right, Father," I said softly. In actuality, I didn't know if what Dumbledore said was definitely true. But it sounded somewhat accurate, and it at least calmed me down a bit. And Father as well, it seemed, as anger and doubt turned to worry and affection.

"As long as you're careful," Father finally said after a few moments. He shook Dumbledore's hand and they exchanged their farewells. With one last hug to me, he left Dumbledore and I alone in his office.

"Well, it's rather late, Ms. Way. If I may suggest, you should return to your dormitory and get some sleep. Saturday seems to be your peers' favorite day of the week, and I'm sure it will do you good to be awake for it as long as possible," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling.

-'-,-'-,-'-

Even with a friendly smile and a warm farewell (shooing) from him, the eye-twinkling haunted me until my return to Slytherin. Every time it happened, something big happened, and I didn't want to think that I'd be caught in the middle this time.

-'-,-'-,-'-

**So, Hermione knows. And she's made it her business too. What could possibly go wrong?**

**Everything. Or, nothing. Depends on what she finds.**

**Anyway, I'm so, so, so, so sorry for not being on FanFiction for almost three months.**

**Wait, what?**

**Oh, wow. Yeah, almost three months.**

**This is the part where I repeat, over and over, "I'm a terrible person. I am a horrible, terrible person who deserves to rot in hell." Won't be too much of a change, though; I already do that pretty consistently.**

**Back to story-talk, Draco wasn't in this chapter. I know that he's a main character, but he doesn't have to be in every chapter, right? This was more of a development chapter for Hermione, as well as an introductory chapter for Ebony's family, which I haven't really brought up much. Unlike in My Immortal, where we don't even know if Enoby has a family, Ebony's family is going to have a rather large part in this story. A lot of thought has gone into the Oskursfamily's subplot.**

**By the way, if you can catch the references in their names, I will congratulate you in the next chapter's Author's Notes. You know, because shout-outs are fun like that.**

**I also fixed the little confusing thing with Demetrius being Ebony's "clan-mate". He's her older brother. Also, looking back, I decided to make her a little bit more stuck-up-ish when reciting her family lineage. I feel like the vampires of the Potterverse would be very similar to the blood-obsessed pureblood wizards (i.e: paying close attention to/bragging about your ancestors), so make of that what you will.**

**Speaking of things vaguely related to stats ("vaguely" meaning "not at all") 800 hits so far for this story, and 19 reviews. The hit counter is the second highest of all my stories here and on FictionPress (Where I Belong, which I should really update, is in first with just shy of 1,000 hits), and the review counter is more than twice than that of the second place review-reciever (Where I Belong. Yeah, I really need to update it…). So thank you guys so much for your support.**

**So please, offer me more support and advice by telling me about my characterization, writing style, plot, etc. Remember, I can only improve if I know what I'm doing wrong.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-esbmusic42**


	6. Chapter 6

"_I'm sure it will do you good to be awake for it as long as possible,"_

Ironically, it was those words that kept me up the entire night. I would've grumbled drowsily had I not been interrupted by twin yawns.

Something that surprised me, as in my sleep-deprived stupor, I hadn't been aware that there was someone else in the room.

I spun around quickly, only to find Millicent stretching as she got out of bed, the only other person in the room. Relieved that it wasn't Parkinson or Greengrass (Davis, I'd discovered, generally kept to herself when not influenced by the other two), I greeted her tiredly. She looked back at me, a little startled.

"G'morning," she said after a moment, the confusion clear in her voice. We dressed in silence for a moment, then-

"Do you know where Willow is?" she asked suddenly. I looked up, quirking an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" I asked carefully. Millicent shrugged.

"It's just that, she doesn't really get up early on a weekend, but she's not here…" she trailed off. I nodded slowly.

"Maybe she went to ask a teacher about something…" I suggested weakly. Millicent thought for a moment, and then nodded.

"Makes sense, I suppose. She mentioned having trouble in Charms," she said, and a shiver ran through my spine, which didn't escape Millicent's eyes. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," I said, not meeting her eyes. I didn't need to look at her to know how much she didn't believe my lie-I could practically hear her suspicious glare. There was silence for a few minutes, before I heard her sigh.

"Alright. See you later, then," she said briskly as she left. I returned the gesture, and when the door closed, I collapsed on my bed.

The only thought in my mind was that Charms was my best subject-the only one I get all "O"s and "E"s in, as a matter of fact. If she really needed help in Charms, she could've gone to me.

-'-,-'-,-'-

I skipped breakfast that morning, choosing instead to walk straight to Hogsmeade. I knew that Madame Pomfrey would have my head for it, but I felt sick enough from my interaction with Millicent-I didn't want to think how much worse it could be with pancakes.

My head seemed to pulse with my thoughts as I walked. Willow and I were friends since the beginning. We were the outcasts of Slytherin-the illegitimate child and the Muggleborn. The first night, when the other girls were talking about how excited they were for classes, we talked about why we wanted to be here.

"_Father died before he could marry Mother,"_ she'd said quietly, not wanting the other girls to hear. _"And Grandfather didn't want the family name to end, so I was adopted. Doesn't matter though-everyone else knows that I was born out of wedlock, and I'm not exactly popular for it."_

"_But didn't you say that Slytherin is where purebloods go?"_ I'd asked shyly, only to be answered with a shake of the head.

"_That's what everyone thinks. It's really for the ambitious and cunning,"_ I remember frowning at that. Even then, I knew that I could never be described as cunning. _"I want to show people that I'm worthy of my name and my inheritance."_ We had both smiled at that-she in pride, and I in admiration. _"What about you?"_

"_Me?"_ I'd asked. She'd nodded.

"_What're you here for? Probably for showing purebloods that Muggleborns can be just as intelligent and driven, right?"_ she'd asked, and I'd shrugged. It had seemed like a good enough reason as any to those who didn't know that I wasn't a Muggleborn.

I was interrupted from my thoughts for a moment when I tripped over a loose tree root.

Willow and I had been best friends ever since that little incident of introspect. We'd actually been each other's only friend until Willow's betrothal to Malcolm Bulstrode, Millicent's older brother, was announced in Fifth Year. What followed was a week of Willow moping, before Millicent finally snapped and threatened to slap her.

"_Every girl our age like us deals with it, so get the fuck over it!"_ she'd shouted in the middle of one of her crying fits. I remember getting up from rubbing her back to glare at her before Willow stopped me.

Being included in an "us" improved Willow's mood quite a bit, and they'd been friends from there on in. I, as the glarer, was denied such privilege, though we could be pleasant to each other when we needed to be.

Millicent and my friendship aside, Willow could've gone to me or her. I wasn't sure about Millicent, but I knew that she knew that she could come for me to help in the admittedly few areas that I could.

So why didn't she?

I heard a familiar giggle a few paces to my right.

"Willow?" I called out. The giggling stopped. I heard a rustle in the bushes before…

"Hi, Ebony," Willow exclaimed, popping out of the bushes, brown hair disheveled and green eyes alight. I raised an eyebrow at her appearance. "How're you?"

"You were in a bush," I stated bluntly, not quite keeping a hold of the situation. Willow laughed a bit.

"It's for Herbology. I want to get some extra credit so…"

"You were in a bush?" I repeated, this time a bit more skeptical.

"Precisely," she said. "So, Hogsmeade?" I frowned for a moment before shrugging it off. She'd tell me later if she wants to.

"Sure," I said. We only took a few steps before I heard something large and wooden snap. "Did you hear that?"

"Oh, that was me. I think I stepped on a twig or something," she explained. I nodded, smiling, and we walked the rest of the path to Hogsmeade.

-'-,-'-,-'-

"I swear, on Merlin's grave, I will get you to try Butterbeer," Willow said, taking a sip of the amber liquid. I smiled as I nursed my water.

"Good luck," I replied, drinking. As I put the cup down, I saw her looking out the window, a little distantly. "You okay?" I asked, and she looked back at me.

"Yeah, fine," she said, looking back out the window. I peered out the window, and saw approximately half of the Hogwarts student body walking by.

"How do you think Hogsmeade survives during the summer, without all of us floating around?" I asked, and Willow shrugged.

"Some families don't live far from here. Also, the Hogsmeade weekends are probably enough to keep them afloat for the rest of the year," she replied after a moment. We sat in silence a while longer.

Suddenly, we heard a crash. We turned and saw two boys (a Ravenclaw who clearly was on his first Hogsmeade trip and an older Hufflepuff) laying on the ground, soaked in Butterbeer and covered in broken glass. Other patrons started crowding around them to help them up. One of them, I was somewhat surprised to see, was Willow. I stood up just as she brought the Hufflepuff to his feet.

"Are you okay?" I heard her ask him quietly. As he chuckled and affirmed his well-being, I wondered why their interaction was so quiet. The two boys ran into each other and got hurt, it was expected of her to help him.

Then I remembered that he was a Hufflepuff. Hufflepuffs were hated even more than Gryffindors. Because at least Gryffindor has a respectable Quidditch team, however grudgingly we (as in Slytherin House as a whole) acknowledged it.

Actually, I think that the Hufflepuff boy is on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. What was his name…Fletcher, I think?...

"Who was that?" I asked after he rejoined his friends to get Butterbeer. Willow looked at me strangely for a moment, as if she'd forgotten that I was there.

"You mean the Hufflepuff?" I nodded. "He was my partner for Herbology last year," she said, very clipped. I waited, thinking that she was going to say more, before nodding.

"Okay," I said, about to go back to our table.

"His name's Justin Finch-Fletchley," she said suddenly, as if she just remembered. I nodded, sitting down.

"That's nice," I replied. "Now, were you planning to finish your Butterbeer before or after it's gotten cold?" She laughed loudly.

"Nice to see you're back to normal," she said, snorting once as she sat across from me. I resisted the urge to tell her the same thing.

-'-,-'-,-'-

"Mudblood!" I groaned as I turned around to face the insipid queen and her two ladies-in-waiting. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Willow prepare herself to physically restrain me, if necessary.

"What is it, Parki-" I stopped mid-sentence when I realized that she wasn't talking to me.

"Parkinson," Granger replied briskly. It might've been intimidating in a McGonogall-esque way had it not been for the large stack of books weighing her down. Several of the titles, I realized with a jolt, had to do with magical creatures. One particular title that caught my eye was "Vampires in Modern Society" by Carmilla Elise.

"Trying to read yourself into a relationship? Didn't think that Weasley was so slow!" Parkinson called out, and I saw Granger's cheeks turn bright red.

Huh. Her and Ronald Weasley. I always thought that she and Potter would get together, but I could see Granger and Weasley as a couple. Glancing at Willow revealed that she was probably thinking something similar.

"Well, I doubt that Malfoy finds your hate-speech arousing," Granger replied coolly. Parkinson turned a blotchy red.

"He does, in fact. We're practically engaged, he loves everything I do!" she declared a bit rushed. Willow turned to me, panic, apology, and sympathy in her eyes. I pretended to look sad as well, and was surprised to find that doing so was easier than I thought.

Granger, meanwhile, only raised an eyebrow.

"Really? I heard him talking to Zabini about Astoria Greengrass very favorably earlier…" she said, mock-thoughtfully. "Now, I have more important things to do than talk about your drama, so I think I'll take my leave." She stalked off, baring a surprising amount of dignity as she went. I saw Parkinson turn to Greengrass and ask about her sister.

"I didn't find out until yesterday. Astoria is Draco's fiancée. It was arranged by out parents," Greengrass replied, flipping her long, blonde hair over her shoulder. I felt really cold all of a sudden. I shivered and rubbed by hands up and down my forearms for warmth. I didn't care where or how, I just wanted to be as far away from where I was standing, and I wanted to be there now.

As Parkinson started screaming obscenities at her, Willow turned back to me.

"Ebony…" she said quietly. I smiled a little sadly.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it…" I replied.

"Are you sure? I-"

"I just need to be alone. I'll meet you back at the dormitory," I said, and I turned and left before I could wait for her reply.

-'-,-'-,-'-

I felt like I was reliving the morning, kicking the dust in front of me on the dirt path between Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. Except this time it was harder, going uphill instead of down.

It certainly had nothing to do with Greengrass and the thing she said about her sister.

Actually, it did, and I had no idea why. I don't actually fancy Malfoy-it was a front to give me excuse to panic over the fact that he may know about my being a vampire. Greengrass's words should have been a blessing, actually-having a new fiancée means he'll be a lot more distracted, which means he'll pay a lot less attention to me.

I felt the chill go down my spine. I adjusted the collar of my cloak to protect my neck from the cold.

"Wait!" I stopped midstep and turned around. I saw an exhausted, but cheerful Granger walk up the path behind me, books nearly falling out of her arms with every step. Potter and Weasley (the latter brought forth a slight smirk) were several paces behind her.

"Hello, Granger," I said, marveling at the fact that she had yet to drop a book.

"Found my and Parkinson's conversation to be interesting?" she asked, readjusting the books in her arms. I frowned slightly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, trying to sound indignant. Granger rolled her eyes.

"You weren't exactly hiding. You and Rosier were standing right behind her." I opened my mouth to reply, before realizing that I had nothing to say.

"Was that all?" I asked after a moment, a bit darkly. Granger's smug smirk turned into a bright smile.

"Actually, I found a few books on the physiology of magical creatures. There were none on vampires specifically, but some of the books on society mentions a few things about their physiology affecting their customs, so I figured I would take some of both." Granger was using her fast voice again. I merely blinked.

"Oh, erm…thank you," I said after a moment (specifically, when the full effect of her words washed over me), and smiled in gratitude. Granger smiled smugly.

"You're welcome. I'll tell you if I've come up with anything," she said, readjusting the books a final time before walking back to Potter and Weasley. The latter seemed to be much more annoyed with Granger's interaction with me, much to her dismay.

As I watched the two of them bickering their way past me (Potter merely trailing behind, looking defeated and exasperated), I felt the chill again, though this time, it was accompanied by something else. Jealousy, perhaps? It didn't feel quite like it, though. Not entirely. Maybe that it's just that I like the idea of people paying attention to me.

I didn't realize that nothing really happened at all today when I was in my bed, about to fall asleep. Perhaps Dumbledore can make mistakes, too.

-'-,-'-,-'-

**That ending was rushed. So very rushed. I don't know what that was.**

**Actually, I don't know what this entire chapter was. Be excited people, this was the Dawson's Creek special of this story. The only one that will be mostly about romantic relationships. Probably. I hope.**

**I've been reading way too much NextGen romance fics…**

**Anyway, this is my apologizing for not updating any of my stories in a month and a half, and this story in four months. I am a terrible, horrible person who deserves to rot in hell for this. You deserve a much more driven author than me. Or at least an author who has more time.**

**Moving right along, thank you so much for all of your support. As of this moment, My Renewal, My Immortal has 13 favorites, 15 alerts, 25 reviews, and 1,866 hits. Given that I wanted to be at 1,000 hits maybe for this chapter, and now I'm almost at 2,000, I just want to say "omg adk;asld;jflaksdjfal what is this i can't even I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!"**

**Now the promised name meanings: nobody really got any of them, but a number of you caught on to the Nordic naming system. So, kudos to those who caught that.**

**Oskur (Ebony's father)-"oscur" and it's various spellings are the Latin root for "dark." ("Dark'ness" from Enoby's name). I replaced the "c" with a "k" just for a misspelling (see random apostrophe), but Bhel-Elryss's review led me to putting "Oskur" through a translator, and it turns out that it's an actual Nordic first name. So, randomly convenient, but cool. So flock to Bhel-Elryss for her awesomeness. For she deserves awesome.**

**Robur (Ebony's paternal grandfather)-literally means "strength" in Latin, but it can also mean "oak." So, it's a double whammy-keeps up with the wood theme (Ebony is also a wood, but you all probably know that already), and also shows Enoby's stubbornness in her base form.**

**Raven (Ebony's mother)-If you don't get it, read the original fanfic that this one is based on, My Immortal. If you've read it, duh.**

**Vitis (Ebony's maternal grandfather)-means "vine" in Latin. Keeps with the wood theme, and shows how the original fic just creeps up on you and ensnares you in it until you have no choice but to be trapped in it. Or maybe that was just me…**

**Demetrius (Ebony's brother)-It's a proper name in Latin (male form of "Demeter," Greek goddess of the harvest and all that-supposed to show how the person is going to be prosperous and the like), and it's given to a lot (and I mean, a lot) of kings, princes, and other types of royalty, particularly in the Mediterranean area. Shows how Enoby thought she was helping everyone, but was really just being a spoiled princess in her own world.**

**Okay, that was exposition. But it was exposition that I promised so…yeah.**

**The names, by the way, don't reflect the nature of the characters in the slightest. They're there just to be funny references.**

**One last announcement: there is a poll on my bio page for what fanfic I should spend the most time on. I will be updating the most popular story according to the poll twice before I update another fic. And this poll will be closing in late January. Right now, this story is tied with "General Tang," a Fairly OddParents fanfic, in which story should be updated first, so if you don't particularly like Fairly OddParents fanfiction, please say so!**

**And, finally, to end this long and rambled Author's Shpeale, if you have any critiques/comments on the characterization, plot, imagery, etc., please feel free to let me know. Remember, I can only improve if I know what I'm doing wrong.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-esbmusic42**


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